


Somi Is Not Herding Goats In The Alps

by eelegy



Series: IOI looks like a screaming person, see? \😮/ [1]
Category: I.O.I (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2020-11-01 14:59:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20817068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eelegy/pseuds/eelegy
Summary: Your soulmate's given name appears on your body. This is probably better for people whose soulmates are not named weird things like Ennik.





	Somi Is Not Herding Goats In The Alps

The name on Doyeon's ribcage held one comfort: Ennik was an unusual name. She knew people with names like Jieun on their stomachs or Mingyu on their collarbones. There were three Jieuns in her grade alone. How was anyone with a commonly-named soulmate supposed to find them?

Ennik was also a big problem. It was clearly not a Korean name. Doyeon had to get her mother to tell her how to say it when it appeared on her at eleven. Apparently, she was an early bloomer. Most people got theirs closer to thirteen. "Ennik" was written, Doyeon knew, in the Latin alphabet. But even that didn't help. Everyone used the Latin alphabet, it seemed. And searching the name only brought her people with Ennik as a family name. By fifteen, Doyeon was convinced that she'd never find her soulmate. Whoever this "Ennik" was, they were probably herding goats in the alps and yodeling or something. 

\---

At sixteen, she found herself on a show called Produce 101. She had lost count of the number of girls she had seen secretively show each other their marks, lifting their shirts in the bottom bunks or in the soundproof practice booths. In the few months of filming, four pairs had (probably, hopefully) found their soulmates. Of course, it wasn't anything the camera would find. Doyeon thought it was funny that even with the soulmate marks, Korea was still so closed to the thought of same-sex couples. 

Sometimes the marks appeared on a person's back or shoulder. Other times, on a person's ribcage like Doyeon's. The marks rarely showed up anywhere outside the abdomen. Doyeon appreciated that. There was no point in showing off a soulmate that she would never find. 

Still, sometimes Doyeon thought about this Ennik. Was she a petite girl with a taste for flowing white dresses? Or was he a big, strong guy with sandy hair and a chiseled jaw? Doyeon supposed she was a little thankful that she'd never find out who her soulmate was. She couldn't imagine having to fake a smile for a guy she'd never be attracted to or having to hide a relationship with a girl from the tabloid news sites. Not that her being famous was an inevitability, but a tiny, bitter part of her thought that maybe having a lot of people love her could make up for never knowing her soulmate.

\---

When Doyeon had gotten into the top eleven, she started to hope. Maybe she'd be famous. Maybe she'd tour the world. Maybe there would be a fan backstage for her with a smile and a mark saying Doyeon. Doyeon knew it was stupid to hope. IOI was a group with an expiration date and being under YMC meant almost certainly no world tour. Still.

\---

It was in July when they were in their pre-promotion phase for Whatta Man that they went on Kiss the Radio. Doyeon had gotten most of her starstruck-ness out of her system, but there was something about being in a room with Leeteuk that had her pinching herself to make sure that it was real. 

She was in such disbelief that she was in a room with a member of Super Junior that she almost missed Somi's explanation of her name.

Somi had been surprisingly calm so far on the show, but Doyeon assumed that Somi was a little starstruck too. Just enough to tone down her beagle-ness. "I have two names." Doyeon had never heard her speak so calmly or professionally. Definitely starstruck. Doyeon made a mental not to make fun of Somi for it when they got back to the dorm. "Somi in Korean and my foreign name is Ennik."

At Somi's last sentence, Doyeon froze. Ennik? It couldn't-

After that, Doyeon was on autopilot. She had virtually no recollection of the rest of the show. Ennik had been annoying her for the past however many months? The world or fate or whoever decided the marks was definitely laughing at her right now. Somi? VitaSomi? Resident beagle Somi?

"Dodo?" Doyeon jolted at the feeling of a finger prodding her cheek. Yoojung was looking at her with a weird expression. "You were just staring into space and whispering 'Somi' over and over. It was sorta creepy."

"I-" Doyeon took in her surroundings. When did they even get in the van? When had Sukira ended? Did she make a total fool of herself? Doyeon looked at Somi dancing to some trap remix in the front seat of the van and then back at Yoojung. She shrugged helplessly and shook her head. "Not here. Dorm?"

Yoojung nodded, snuggling into Doyeon's side. "Just please don't murder her. We need her to distract Nayoung so we can get snacks."

\---

As soon as they were back in the dorm, Doyeon dragged Yoojung into their room. After she shut the door, Doyeon turned to Yoojung. "Her name is Ennik?"

Yoojung tilted her head, looking very much like a puppy. "Somi? Yeah. She's half Canadian."

Doyeon was gaping at Yoojung's nonchalance towards Somi's hidden name reveal. "You're acting like you knew."

"Uh, yeah. She told us." Yoojung squinted in confusion and flopped on her bed, sitting back up to face Doyeon, who remained standing a few feet into the room.

Doyeon opened her mouth and closed it, looking for words. "She-wha-when?!?"

"I don't remember. Why?" Yoojung was looking at her with a mix of confusion and caution. 

Doyeon realized that she must look a little crazy so she made her way to sit on the floor across from Yoojung's bed and tried to relax. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Huh? Yeah. Of course. Why?" Yoojung slipped off the bed to sit on the ground facing Doyeon.

Doyeon took a breath. By some stroke of luck, her mark had ended up on her ribcage on her left side where it was covered by her bra, so even with quick changes and room and bathroom sharing, she had managed to keep it covered. Before she could lose her nerve, Doyeon shifted onto her knees and lifted her shirt and the left part of her bra, just under her left arm. Yoojung squeaked and covered her eyes, but when it became clear Doyeon wasn't stripping any further, she peeked out through her fingers.

"En-Enni-" Yoojung gasped and then quickly covered her mouth. 

Doyeon let got of her bra and left her shirt drop back down. "It can't be a mistake, can it? It must be Somi."

"Ennik. Somi." Yoojung was looking rapidly between Doyeon's face and her side. 

Doyeon sat back down, cross-legged. She sighed and leaned back. "I don't know how to tell her."

"Woah." Yoojung was still looking back and forth between Doyeon's face and her side. 

\---

As it turned out, an opportunity to tell Somi came quickly. Doyeon thought it was even a little too quickly because not even a week after her entire universe shifted, they're meeting Ailee at a pool. When Doyeon heard this, she had two reactions. First, an overwhelming urge to scream because Ailee? Doyeon loved Ailee. Second, an overwhelming urge to scream because pools? That meant changing into bathing suits. And that had trouble written all over it.

So now Doyeon was changing, left side facing the wall. She had gotten her bikini top on and was stepping into her new board shorts, courtesy of whatever swimwear manufacturer YMC managed to make a partnership with when Somi turned to grab her rash guard. There, on Somi's side just above her hip, she could see "Doyeon" printed in clear, tan letters. 

Doyeon took an impulsive step forward, only to fall flat on her face, having forgotten that her shorts were still somewhere around her knees. When she regained her composure, the other seven girls were looking over at her in concern and Somi had crossed the room in record time to check if she was okay. Somi extended her hand, and Doyeon could only sort of make out Somi's teasing "How did you manage that?" over the ringing in her ears. 

Doyeon couldn't tear her eyes away from Somi's side. "Doyeon." Doyeon was so focused on the mark that she didn't realize that she had said her name out loud.

Somi just laughed. "I know. Isn't it funny? I thought 'how funny that I'm in a group with a girl named Doyeon and my soul-'" Somi stopped herself when Doyeon still hadn't moved. "Doyeon?"

Doyeon only then found it in herself to stand up, trying to salvage what dignity she still had. "How come you never said your name was Ennik?"


End file.
